In the first scene of Ragtime, a lone boy walks by ill-lit figures on a many-tiered set to majestically sweep a white cloth off a dusty piano. As the dust clears and the musical makes its way, this action seems a fitting metaphor for the 69th Annual Dolphin Show production: a bit dusty in some places, a tad unexplored in others but an overall charming presentation.
“Ragtime: The Musical” tells the story of three groups of New York inhabitants who cross paths in the early 1900s and explore the issues of race, family, justice and passion. The three groups – New Rochelle WASPs, Harlem African-Americans and immigrant Jews – weave in and out of each other’s stories, disappearing for stretches and returning to show the next snapshots of their journeys. Joining them in random appearances (that often change the characters’ lives) are historical figures, from Booker T. Washington (played by Michael Henry), to gleefully falling vaudeville star Evelyn Nesbit (Janna D’Ambrisi), to the generous and determined anarchist Emma Goldman (Andi Alhadeff).
The storyline is mildly confusing, featuring both an unstructured plot and also inconsistencies with regard to characters breaking the fourth wall and speaking out to the audience. Luckily, excellent performances from the Dolphin Show cast mostly mask the problematic script.
Two strong women control the stage in all aspects, from vocals to dramatic expression: Liz Olanoff, who plays Mother, the matriarch of a wealthy New Rochelle family, and Leslie Jackson, whose heartbreaking rendition of “Your Daddy’s Son” as Sarah, the young black woman who Mother takes in, makes the character’s virtual disappearance from Act II all the more regrettable. Although the women of “Ragtime” seem a force unmatched, some of the men come close: Tateh, a Latvian Jew who immigrates to New York as fierce protectorate of his young daughter, is played by Jesse Greenwald with such infectious joy and exhilaration the audience can’t help but thrill in his character’s good change of fortune.
A story that explores injustices and changing love, parenthood and finding life’s passion, “Ragtime” is understandably a difficult musical to successfully produce. Add to this the fact that the show runs almost three hours long, and it should come as no surprise that there are moments of dramatic importance left understated, and that some of the themes remained unexplored in their potential depth. Whatever the faults, there is still plenty of value - from excellent performances, to fun and lighthearted songs like “What a Game!” mocking the “civilized” nature of a rowdy baseball crowd, to the shifting set and forceful lighting. Like the dusty old piano at the beginning, perhaps some keys could be better tuned, but in the right hands, some beautiful music is still made.
This was originally published in The Current, a weekly supplement to The Daily Northwestern.
